Kinda Friends
by Eliza4892
Summary: Post 2.27 Losing My Religion. Meredith comes home to find Alex asleep in the hallway.


When Meredith got home she had gone straight upstairs to her room, or tried to at least. Alex was asleep, back against the wall facing Izzie's door. He'd been there last night too, after Izzie had kicked him out. He hadn't been at the hospital so she figured he must have been hanging around to see if Izzie needed anything. She felt bad for him, because she knew Izzie probably wouldn't even talk to him.

Quietly, she kneeled by Alex and shook him gently. "Hey, Alex, wake up." She whispered, trying not to wake Izzie if she was asleep in the other room.

He moaned something and opened one of his eyes, blinking, and then opening them both. "Mer?" Alex straightened up, so he wasn't slumped and his legs weren't taking up the entire hallway. He glanced toward Izzie's door quickly, then back at her. "Did something happen?"

"No, everything's fine. I think she's asleep. Why don't we go downstairs, I don't want to wake her." He nodded, and she stood, watching him follow suit before they both went downstairs. "Have you talked to her at all?"

"I tried. She came out earlier and managed to ignore me the entire time other than to tell me I should be at the hospital doing something." There was hurt in his voice but he was doing a pretty good job covering it up as she almost didn't catch it. "It's like she blames me for this."

"She doesn't blame you. You didn't do anything wrong." Meredith reassured, adding, "You know except for cheating on her." He almost glared at her, but didn't seem to have the energy for it. "Sorry." She put a tea bag in a mug filled with water and put it in the microwave, turning it on. "Have you eaten?"

"Earlier. Hope you don't mind me raiding your cabinets." He responded, sitting down in one of the chairs in the kitchen.

She just shrugged, pulling out the mug as the microwave beeped at her, and sitting down across from him. "You should at least be sleeping on the couch you know. The floor can't be good for your back."

"Why are you so worried about me? Shouldn't you be focused on her right now?" There was confusion in his voice, as well as some annoyance, probably at her questions. He didn't seem to want the attention on him right now. Or maybe he just was that worried about Izzie.

"Izzie's got to get herself sorted out before anyone else can help her. And frankly I wouldn't know what to say to her anyway." She looked down, knowing that wasn't the whole story. Meredith didn't think she could deal with Izzie right now but she was too ashamed to admit it. She needed much more emotional support than Meredith would be able to give her. "But you're being all un-Alex like and it's bugging me. I need something that's a constant here. Plus I need someone to occupy my mind with, otherwise I'm going to throw a pity party and start feeling bad for myself. Which is bad, very bad." He raised an eyebrow at her babbling, and she sighed. "So right now you're my main concern. Not anyone else."

Alex looked like he wanted to protest, but he didn't say anything, just nodded. She was kind of glad he didn't ask what it was that was eating her up and making her like this. She didn't want to talk about Derek or Finn, or the prom. All she wanted was one night where she didn't think about how absolutely complicated her love life had become. She would have to face it head on eventually but she had suddenly become a fan of delaying the inevitable.

He yawned and his eyes closed for a moment before he shook it off. He was obviously tired, and so was she. They both needed sleep, especially if she was going to scrub in the next morning. She contemplated several different scenarios and their results before getting up and grabbing his hand, gesturing for him to follow her back upstairs. He frowned but went with her anyway, lowering his voice as he spoke. "What are you doing?"

As she pulled him into her room, and shut the door, a cocky grin came over his face. "You know, ordinarily I wouldn't turn you down, but…" she didn't know if he was serious or not but it didn't matter because that wasn't what she was aiming for. If she wanted sex with someone, she would've gone to Joe's and picked someone up there. Right now, she wanted anything but sex.

"Shut up." Meredith slapped his arm lightly. "I feel bad about you sleeping on the floor, and that couch sucks to put it nicely. So shut up and get in bed." She took off her shoes, and the sweater she wore over her tank top, but left her other clothes on as she crawled into bed. He hesitated, but removed his shoes anyway, getting into bed when she pulled back the covers for him.

He laid there for a moment, eyes closed, before saying, "You know this is awkward right?"

"It doesn't have to be." He turned his head to look at her, and she smiled. "What? We are kind of friends." She said, by way of explanation. Alex apparently found that a good enough answer and he didn't say anything more. She inhaled deeply, moving slightly closer to him, and laying her head down on his shoulder. He didn't flinch, or react at all really, but he was relaxed instead of tense like she'd expected. It reminded her of nights spent in George's bed, when they were still close friends and she wasn't constantly worried about what was or wasn't crossing the line. She always woke up feeling better.

As she lay in bed she came to the realization that while her initial intentions may have been to help him, she was actually making her self feel better. She needed comfort of some type and just having him there, without any thoughts of sex or romance--because neither of them really thought of each other that way--was comfort enough. But at least he wasn't still on the floor.


End file.
